While Ross Barkley stole the headlines with his stylish performance against Newcastle United on Wednesday night, it was the display of another man in blue that most impressed the Liverpool Echo's Greg O'Keeffe.

Aaron Lennon's hard-working displays have made him a fans favourite at Goodison and earned him a place in the starting XI ahead of Gerard Deulofeu.

Here, O'Keeffe says he is more than justifying his manager's faith in him.

Graft.

It's the one thing that should be a given for any professional footballer.

But so infuriatingly often that's not the case. A player might be blessed with all the ability in the world, but when the heat is on and his lungs are burning, the reluctance to run those extra hard yards can wilt.

That's why Aaron Lennon not only justified his place in Everton's starting line-up last night. Whatever Gerard Deulofeu's army of admirers understandably may say to the contrary, it's why he deserves to keep it too.

It was a year ago that Lennon had to go on record to insist he was happy to be at Goodison on loan, despite his glum visage in the club's official pictures of his signing.

Fast forward seven months and the little winger was positively beaming after putting pen to paper on a permanent deal.